My answers to last week and this week's Thursday Three:



Would I run naked through my local shopping mall on a Saturday for a million dollars:

Yes



Who is the best looking Government Official?

Colin Powell



Link to goofiest guy or girl:

It's a celebrity, he's dead, but I've always wondered how the hell this guy got famous.



What’s the best business slogan you’ve seen?

I don't know if this is qualifies, but a local rock radio station had a billboard that said, "Elvis is dead. Face the music."



In keeping with the Elvis theme, what would Elvis be like if he were still alive?

I think he would have lost weight, gone to rehab, and been in seclusion for a number of years. Then, in 2000, he would have come back for another Comeback Concert and he would be dressed in regular clothes (no jumpsuits) and look distinguished and cool with silver/gray hair and glasses. Still would have all his gold and TCB jewelry.



Which two famous women would you most like to see fighting each other (cat or regular)?

Gwyneth Patrow and Jennifer Aniston (fighting over Brad Pitt) I think Jenn would kick her ass.



In my quest to find the goofiest person, I came across this tshirt slogan that Lynn saw on a poster in Galena, Illinois and we all thought was hilarious.



Spent 3 hours at the State Fair yesterday. This might sound crazy, but my co-worker brought along a polaroid from work and we went on Mullet patrol. We actually came away with 4 good pictures of really bad hair. Made the day quite fun! Otherwise, had the cheese curds, donuts, lemonade, cookies, etc. I didn't feel so good last night, can you guess why?

Did I mention that Pam and I are going to Bruce Springsteen in concert at the end of September? I hope (and think) that $85 is worth it to see the Boss and the E Street Band. Bought the new album last week. It's awesome.

Pat: Watch it, or you'll be walking to my house from the airport in Minneapolis.



Have any of you seen the Distinguished Gentlemen with Eddie Murphy? I had never watched the entire thing until last night. I have a fondness for short, political movies such as this one. Cute movie. Reminds me of a couple of my other political favorites: Dave and The American President.



Went out to dinner with Matt and Jill last night. Can't seem to coordinate weekend schedules, so we had to settle for a weeknight meal. Hadn't seen them in a long time. Went well, had fun. Ate at Damon's, which is a close knockoff of the ESPN Cafe. We ate in a round booth facing 4 big screen TV's and a speaker on the table. Unfortunately, the Twins were getting their butts kicked so it wasn't a fun game to watch.



The Great Minnesota Get Together started today: Minnesota State Fair. Did you know that it is the second most popular fair in the nation? Some favorites on a stick to note this year: alligator, fried candy bar, fried cheese cake, pickle, and turkey leg. The all-time best Minnesota fair feature is Tom Thumb mini-donuts. Second would be cheese curds. Third, corn on the cob cooked with the skin on over a grill, stripped down and dipped in butter, and then handed to the customer. Good stuff.



Going to see Matthew Perry and Liz Hurley's new movie: Serving Sara on Friday night.



No plans this weekend. YES! I'm sleeping until noon.



Newsweek had an article on blogging this week. Interesting to read and find out why some people do it, and what they post about.

Back from the weekend up north and doing my father-in-law's retirement party. A fun time was had by all. We had more then enough food with waaay too much leftover. Anyone want ham sandwiches and 2 lbs of homemade potato salad? It's tasty!



It was a long weekend, spent most of the time cleaning and making food. My folks came up with the dog. Our dog and Mike's parents dog didn't get along. They bit each other and then Joey kept trying to hump TJ even though they are both boys. It was very strange. TJ is so used to being socialized with other dogs, but apparently Joey isn't. He was really pushing his territory issues. Freaked me out. I hate dog fights. Gross.



That's all for now...

Forgot to mention to Mike L.Those are 2 of my favorite quotes from So I Married An Axe Murderer. I love that movie. "HEED! PAPER! NOW!"

Long live the King...of Rock and Roll. Elvis Week is here and I'm loving it. Did you know he made 32 million in sales of memorabilia this year? That Graceland alone brings in 15 million in revenue? I bet Nick Cage and Lisa Marie had a pre-nup. She's worth a bundle. According to the British tabloids, Lisa and Nick held a seance to contact Elvis and ask his blessing of their marriage. The King said it was A-OK with him. Retarded tabloid crap.


No matter what anyone says, or how he died, he's still cool to me.



The 10th Annual Camping trip went well. Great sleeping weather and no rain, lots of sun. Tshirts went over big time with the famdamily. We had a picture taken with everyone wearing their shirts. Unfortunately, I don't have digitial pictures of this because I accidentally erased them. DAMN! I was on the winning team for a change during the Winnebago Bowl. We've progressed so much in the 4 years we've been doing this. We now have cones to mark off the end zone, as well as an electronic scorer. I only had 2 major incidents of pain. Trying to get out of my husbands way (he was on the other team) and I bounced right off of him. It really hurt. Then, trying to tackle my cousin in the end zone so that he would drop the ball, Uncle Charlie throws his hand in to tip the ball away, and they both fall on me. We're talking over 300 lbs with both of them. Not so fun. But, a good laugh and some great plays.



Co-worker had her baby on Monday at last. Lost the office pool on that one. Cool name for a girl: Emery.



This weekend is our party for my father-in-laws retirement. Relies started descending last night. Should be a good time, hopefully we get all the food in place. It sounds like my parents might actually be coming up with the dog! He's going to love the lake.

I figured I better post after reading my brother's jab at me...what can I say about my inconsistency? I have no life to post about somedays!



The latest in the saga of kids doing stuff wrong at work: came in yesterday morning and the screen of someone's laptop was cracked. It would appear that while it was closed, someone either sat on it or a football bounced off of it. Haven't quite figured out how to handle this situation! It's never dull around here. :)



A guy I work with spent last weekend up at Breezy Point Resort near Brainerd, Minnesota. The cool part is that on Saturday night he hung out with Tony Oliva, the old Minnesota Twin! Apparently Tim had started talking with a guy one Friday night and they were chatting about the Twins. The guy said they should come back to the lounge the next evening and meet Tony and hang out. They drank and shot the shit with him for hours. Super cool guy. I remember when I interviewed him for an online chat that he was really nice. I had my laptop and my brother hand changed my screensaver without telling me and it flashed, "Kristin's brother is the coolest." Tony laughed and said, "So, you're brother is the coolest, huh?" There is a guy who really belongs in the Hall of Fame.



Which reminds me of an article that everyone should read about Cooperstown. I"m slowly becoming disenchanted with baseball and I've sworn that if they strike this year, I will walk away from the sport forever and pledge my allegiance to NASCAR and hockey. However, this article re-affirmed some of my faith. It's really more about my love of the Hall. A very magical place.



This one on the Twins is worth a read too...



Getting ready for our annual camping trip this weekend. We love to camp, yet we only go once a year. This is our 10th Annual Garness Family Camp-Out, complete with tshirts and the 4th Annual Winnebago Bowl. Thanks to my husband, he organized a football game one year and it's been tradition every since. Since we camp at Camp Winnebago, you get the idea. Last night we went out and bought a Pudgie Pie Maker to make hot ham and cheeses, cherry pies, stuff like that. Pulled out the tent, cooler, grill, all that crap that goes with camping. Plus, we have to get Whittney and Tyler in the back seat of Mike's car in addition to bringing this stuff. Still don't know if that's going to work! I will hopefully be able to post pictures on Monday.



Answers to the Thursday questions:



I didn't find any alternates of me. I found many things with my name, but none worthy of viewing. The cool part when I typed my name into Yahoo search, my blog came up!


I would not cut off two of my fingers for a million dollars.



I would like to kick Bill Gates' ass. In my mind I see Anthony Michael Hall playing him in Pirates of the Silcon Valley and I just want beat the crap out of him. I know that he has done much good and much bad, but I just don't like the guy. He looks like a turtle.



Pat, it's funny that you put Larry Ellison down. There is a huge interview with him this month in PlayBoy. (Yes, my husband gets this magazine.) The guy is a major dick. I can't stress this enough.



I watched Coal Miners Daughter the other night for the hell of it. Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones are awesome in the movie. Mike can't stand the movie because he hates hearing her say, "DOO!" Also watched Jerry Maguire for fun too. We were laughing at the part of the little kid who's on the phone while Cuba Gooding is ranting about his contract. He says, "You talk to much." Then, "It was nice talking to you, bye Rod!" Jonathan Lipnicki was the cutest kid to play that role.



I found this cool Stump Your Friends website that allows you to create quizes about any topic to send to friends. A local radio station had posted it on their website. Since I sent it around at work, everyone is in quiz overload stumping one another. My brother got 9/10 as did my husband. They both missed this question: What is the first car I ever had? Because I felt this quiz was too easy, I created another. Stump yourself here, or create your own quiz. Not sure I should send it to Dad. He might not like the question: "Who does Kristin call her 'real' dad?" :) There's a story there.



My mom has always been an Elvis fan. Not a freaky-obsessed-he's-still-alive kind of fan, but a casual fan. I, in turn, have become a fan since I was about 12. One year my cousin Molly and I decided to tell her little sister Allison that Elvis was really my dad. The reason is that my parents are divorced and Allison had been born after this and had a hard time comprehending who my dad really was. We took advantage of this when she was about age 7. We had her totally convinced that my mom had an affair with Elvis and I was his kid. Finally, Allison marched up to my mom and said, "Is Elvis Kristin's Dad?" You had to be there to see the look on my mom's face. Priceless. She ruined it by telling her that Uncle Steve was really my dad, not Elvis. Anyway, that's the origin of the question.

Interesting questions posed for the Thursday three: My favorite lawn ornament seen is a large pig with piglets following...they looked scary real. had to stop and look twice. maybe I'm retarded. Favorite Southern name: Billy-Jack and Doolittle are my personal favorites. (However, I have to say that some of the nicknames in our family may qualify. My mom and her sisters: Charmaine=Slim; Sandra=Rita; Susan=Jity; Pam=Penny; Dave=Davey John. Some how Aunt Linda escaped the wrath.) Best looking CEO/Chairman: Steve Case of AOL/Time Warner



I'm visiting my parents this weekend and on Thursday night we went to the Olmsted County Fair in Rochester. The people watching was at its prime. My mother about passed out at the girl (about age 19) wearing a long hippie looking skirt with a tank top that did NOT cover her large pregnant belly. Last year at the Minnesota State Fair I saw a woman wearing this: a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, BIKER SHORTS, and a tank top. It was baaaaad.



I gotta point out this great billboard that KDWB, our local Top 40 station in the Twin Cities recently did. It said Ugly Kids...and had pictures of two really ugly kids. sort of. Then a week later they had the billboard that said "Ugly kids become DJ's." Check out the link.

Goldmember is worthy of watching if you are a fan of Austin Powers. Same old sight gags, jokes, etc. Mini-me and Fat Bastard steal the show. Michael Caine ROCKS as Nigel Powers, Austin's dad. (I'm a big Michael Caine fan though). Goldmember (the character) is way dumb, that was the only character I didn't like. The opening sequence is Great. Brings you right into the movie. Most critics are saying that it's lost it's mojo. I liked it for what it was: a Mike Myers production. (Ozzy makes an appearance with the family and the outtakes of him trying to do that scene are HILARIOUS!)



Also rented Men In Black (hadn't seen the first one yet) and I Am Sam with Sean Penn. I have to say the first MIB is better then the second, more entertaining. I Am Sam is also very good, but slow moving and too long. Music is mostly all Beatles toons and it rocks. Sean Penn is amazing. He's a cross between a Forrest Gump, Arnie from What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and Daniel from The Other Sister. (If you have not seen the last two movies, I highly recommend them.) I have new respect for Sean Penn as an actor.



Went to the Minnesota Zoo on Saturday afternoon. Hadn't been there in almost 10 years. Pretty decent place, although it was mobbed with kids and families. Mike had never been to this zoo, so he was excited. Watched an excellent dolphin show where we sat in the front row by the tank and were splashed a bit. One of the female dolphins is very pregnant so it was neat to see her big belly. Those animals are so amazing. Mike swam with dolphins in the Bahamas and ever since then I have so much respect for them. Truly fantastic creatures. I came eye to eye with a really cool beaver, who stood about a foot away from me and stood looking right up at me chewing his little stick. He was about the size of smaller dog which I wasn't expecting. They also have a cool petting pond of sting rays and star fish that you are welcomed to touch. Little kids really were excited about that. Rode the monorail to see the larger outdoor animals like the bison, camels, and moose. New Tiger Lair exhibit with 2 beautiful tigers. Overall, a good day. We were wicked tired at the end of the day!



Sunday we spent the day watching NASCAR during the longest rain delay and caution. I nearly crapped myself watching Steve Park's accident. I felt bad for Junior-I can only imagine how scary it must be for him now after losing his dad in an accident. Park has just had the crappiest luck this year. I'm soooo glad that he and Jr. were okay. They are two of my favorite drivers. Besides their driving ability, their both really hot!



Taking Friday off this week to head down to the Grove town (as my co-worker and former resident of Spring Grove calls it) to visit Grandma. Time is getting shorter and priorities are being pushed into place. This is at the top of the list right now.



Since everyone is on the topic of what they are reading...Just finished The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough. Starting Primary Colors. Cannot get into it Not sure why. I have read so many books in my lifetime, I don't know that I would know where to start in terms of listing what is good. Off the top of my head, 2 books that I think should be required reading in college: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom and 10 Things I Wish I'd Know Before I Went Out Into The Real World by Maria Shriver. I love bios too, and one of my favorites because the story is so good (nothing to do with the music side) is Love Can Build A Bridge by Naomi Judd. As the review said, "This isn't the dust off the bible story you were expecting..." I have a soft spot for single working moms, so this story really hit home for me. Childrens Books: A Fish Out of Water by Dr. Seuss; Charlotte's Web; Little House Series; I'll Love You Forever; The Giving Tree; plus there is this one book Paige made me read a few years back, can't remember the name, but it was about the kid who didn't want to give up his blankey. I have issues with giving up my blankey still.



In a moment of digression.... my great-aunt Marguerite once told me a story at age 10 (to discourage my blankey use) about a little boy she had taught many years ago. He had this blanket that he took everywhere. Once on vacation he had his head out the window as they were crossing a bridge and was holding the blanket out and flying it like a kite through the air. There was a big gust of wind and it snapped the blanket out of his hands and into the river below. Way below. It's so funny to me, but I know that if it were MY blanket it would not be. So it's more like a devilish laugh...hehehehe IF your child has a favorite blanket, just let them. They'll figure out when to get rid of it.



Pat-your story about the drive-in movie has kicked me into gear. We have one near us and are going to try to go this week. It's something we've talked about since 1996!

Goldmember opens today...and I plan on being there at 7pm tonight. "I love GOOOOLLLDDDD!"



I've undertaken a large project from my mother. I'm putting all of her black and white photos into a photo album/scrapbook. These photos consist of her mother and father's families, her grandparents, siblings, great-grandparents, uncles, aunts cousins. I've seen most of the photos over my lifetime, but I'm amazed at how many I don't really know. My Grandpa Garness came from a large family-11 kids. I only remember 3 of those aunts and uncles really well. The others passed away before I was born or died when I was young. My grandpa died when I was 8 and I realized how very little I knew him. Looking at these pictures of him with his family has really made me think a lot about how they were all young once too. They're goofing around, with their arms around each other. Photo booth pictures of my grandpa with some random friend-we'll never who the guy is. Standing with my grandma after they got married, both of them thin and young and looking like they really do love each other. I think of some of the stories Grandma has told about when they were dating. Grandpa was considered a 'rogue' and pretty wild. They shaped who I am today, just as their parents did, and those parents before, etc. It truly makes me appreciate where I came from and the sacrifices made. It's a lengthy process to sort all of these photos, but lots of fun too.



Did anyone catch the replay this week of the mini-series The Shining? I caught most of it the first time around, but it was interesting to watch again. Having read the book, this mini-series re-creates the movie very closely. The original Stanley Kubrick version made famous by Nicholson is awesome, and it's a classic, but they made him into a freak and did not follow a lot from the book. In the book, it's a slow madness that he descends into. Much more effectively done by Steven Weber. It's freaky to see him in this role after watching him on Wings all those years ago. He once played David Koresh of the Branch Dividians in a TV movie. Scared the bejezus out of me. But I digress...



The kid who played Danny this time around is only fair. His mouth, or teeth (I can't figure it out) don't let him close his mouth all the way. It was really annoying. Plus he was really nasily. In the movie version, I that Danny was a fair take on the book. A very intelligent kid for his age who has things figured out in life and at the hotel waaaay more then his mom and dad do. Did anyone like Shelley Duvall as Wendy? I liked Rebecca Demornay better. Classic line from the movie: "I"m not gonna hurt you Wendy....I'm just going to bash. your. brains.in." I'm really stuck in the middle on which is better (besides the book). Nicholson still rocks though. And obviously, this all just my opinion, as many beg to differ on the Internet Movie Database.



Something to ponder from an article I ready by Michael Moore. (I'm sure you're familiar with him). He was wondering why matches and lighters were not on the prohibitied list of items to take on an airplane. I stopped to think about this and asked myself the same question. Why? Well, it turns out that the FFA had them on the list after 9/11. However, the tobacco companies lobbyed to have them taken OFF the list. Their reasoning? People can't smoke on a plane and the minute they get off, they want to rush to a smoking lounge where they can. They must have their lighter to do so. The lobbying with Bush and the FFA was successful, and the items were removed. But what happened in December? Richard Reed tries to light his shoe bomb on an airplane. They're still on the list.



Note to my brother: watch where you urinate.

In my defense, I thought Summer Catch was a decent movie because it had a number of fairly obscure actors in it that I like. Didn't say the story was the greatest, but over the movie was good. I'm talking good as in I'm not bored to death by it and when there is nothing else on cable that I can watch, it will suffice. Because I'm a girl I obviously didn't think Jessica Biel was eye candy, but I don't really care for as an actress.



What I do for a living...I work with teenagers every day for a program in Minnesota called Target Market. This is a youth anti-tobacco industry deal. We're not anti-smoking, we're against the industry and the marketing that is done. Bring on the comments should you feel the need to argue. I do it everyday! Anyway, I manage an office of about 15, with kids who are active in the movement here all the time. We have a cheap office space (storefront) with old office furniture cast offs. As you can imagine, sometimes the damn teenagers get bored or mad at us and decide to have a little fun. Hence the glueing incident. It was actually kind of fun to have the shit hit the fan for a change with them. Usually they get away with murder, but a day back from vacation set me off and I hauled one of 'em into my office and let him have it. (the response as usual was I don't know why I felt like doing it.) Now, no one under 20 is allowed to have a key (we have interns that work evenings). Let's just say they're none to happy with Kristin these days. All the adults were thrilled with some rule finally. So, when I mention things like 'poopcicle' you can imagine why it's suddenly funny. I work with an age group that ranges from 14-32. And Office Space is an oft quoted and favorite movie. Anyway, go to our website if you want details.



Weekend was fair. The friends weekend bombed, and it was only 2 of us. Looonnnggg story. Had a good time with one friend, but find that things have changed quite a bit since college in terms of what to talk about over an entire weekend. I wanted some alone time by Sunday.



Have thought much about my brother's post about goals. I need to do a lot better in this area. Good boost, good writing Pat. Thanks for making me do some re-thinking of where my life is going....I don't mean that in a sarcastic way either. It's in a nice way!

I'll concede as well that I don't post regularly. I have been very lax in doing so lately. My apologies.



Read today that Sharon Osbournes cancer is worse then they thought. It's colon (She said, "why'd they have to find it in my bum?) cancer and she'll have to have chemotherapy for 3 months. Apparently she is not so worried, but Ozzy was so distraught that a doctor had to come and sedate him. Ozzy had been the one to push her to go for a check-up. They called him a hypochondriac. Wouldn't you be if you had the history of drug and alcohol use he does?



Mike left for Iowa last night to visit his rellies. My GORF girls are coming to visit and we're all getting together at Jill's tomorrow. GORF is in reference to my college friends. Back in our freshman year at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, during homecoming, we walked by a dorm room that had GO RF in the window. Except that the space wasn't there and it looked like GORF. Hence, the name GORF Girls began with my friends: Jill, Erika, Krista, Michelle and Robin. It's only 4 of us, but plan on sitting around chatting and drinking a few beers. Jill had hernia surgery on Wednesday, so she won't be doing much, but insisted we still come! Should be fun.



Ordered two books from Amazon that came in the mail yesterday. Primary Colors (the one the movie is based on) and Laura by Donald Zochart. The latter is about Laura Ingallas Wilder. My interest in her has been piqued again (I was obsessed with her when I was little) after visiting her home of one year in Burr Oak, Iowa, the home of my grandparents. Paige and I took the tour and it was really interesting. As for Primary Colors, I had not seen the movie since last fall when I finally rented it. I had to read the book to get a better perspective of it. I'm really psyched. I also need to buy the book Stupid White Men by Michael Moore. A girl I work with had it today at the office and I peed my pants reading it. I had seen it before (maybe one of you talked about it?) and definately want to have this. My favorite quote in the book was actually one from SNL's Update during the election. "George Bush said he didn't reveal the drunk driving charge because of what his daughters might think of him. He had preferred that they think of him as a man with numerous failed business ventures who now executes people." Nice. Second favorite quote: "In short, you've been a drunk, a thief, a possible felon, an unconvicted deserter and a crybaby. You may call that statement cruel. I call it "tough love." Whether you voted for him or not, please admit this is kind of funny.



Had my second interview on Monday in Rochester. Don't want the job after experiencing the interview. It wasn't what I thought and wasn't what I want. When I say it's over my head, I feel like I'm saying I don't want to challenge myself. The problem is that since I don't have experience in one of the areas they want, and they don't want to take the time to teach me, it's hard to say I can learn it. I don't know. Hard one, and rather disappointing. When the people in the job itself are giving me the vibe that they really don't like their job that much, it's difficult to be excited about this one. I'm trying to let my intuition take over on this one. My therapist years and years ago once told me that I had the strongest intuition of anyone she knew and that I should always pay attention to it. We'll see what happens.



Remembered something else Paige had said to me last week. We stopped by our apartment when we came up to go the Mall of America. Paige walked into our den and came back out to report to me that, "That room is really messy. It's worse then Alissa's." I hadn't been home in a week and Mike had been on the computer doing family research and had printed out about 10 feet of paper. Yes, the room is a mess too because it's the 'extra' room where everything gets thrown. It had to have been bad if it was worse then Alissa's!



Have any of you seen Freddy Got Fingered with Tom Green? This was the most stupid and disgusting movie I have ever watched. And I literally saw 15 minutes of it. Why the movie was even made, I don't know. I like Tom Green, his show was hilarious, but I just thought the movie was over the top gross. Not funny.



However, I gotta say that I've watched Little Nicky and Joe Dirt more times then I came to admit in the last month. Little Nicky is actually funny. Ozzy makes an appearance at the end and of course Rob Schneider is in there saying, "YOU CAN DO IT!" Joe Dirt isn't quite as funny, but still memorable. We have this one Starz channel that picks a couple of movies and plays them over and over for a few weeks, kind of like a movie theater. As a result, I've also seen Summer Catch recently with Freddie Prinze Jr. Good movie too.



Adam Sandler has a new animated movie coming out in December called, "Eight Crazy Nights." Can you guess where the title came from? I saw the trailer and it looks freaking hilarious. He does all the voices in it. The scene in the trailer (remember it's animated) shows this old guy falling into a porta potty. Sandler hoses him off (it's winter) and the poop freezes all over him. Sandler says, "Smell ya later poopcicle." This has gone over quite well in the office as a catch phrase.



Last, and I promise this is the last movie reference, we had cake at an office meeting yesterday and began to talk about how in Office Space Milton misses out on yet another piece of cake because he was told 'don't be selfish.'

Been on vacation, but back to the real world yesterday. Scary.



Know what I came back to? The 16 year olds that I work with had glued everything they could get their hands on down to desks with spray Adhesive. Nice. I feel like the parent. Yanked their privileges, can't come back to the office until Monday, blah blah blah. Actually, I was really disappointed. All else had gone well when I was gone. Not to mention, we have to figure out where 4 bags of candy went in one night. Teenagers: AHH! Common sense is not a trait for many of them.



Good vacation with my bro and family. Girls have really grown up a lot. I'd say by the next time I see Alissa, she'll be taller then I am. The best line of the week came from Paige sitting in the backseat of the car on our way home from Grandma's. Out of the blue she says, "Can teachers retire...like when they're in their 30's or so?" Where that came from we're not sure, but she had told us earlier in the day that she wanted to be a Gym teacher. Cute:)



Saw Men in Black 2 over the weekend. It was actually really good and quite funny. Pat and Lyn saw Minority Report. You'll have to hear Pat's analysis of it. Sounds like an interesting movie.



4th of July was pretty fun. Fireworks are now legal in Minnesota (some are, not all) so we bought up a butt load and set them off out at our Aunt and Uncles house in the country. A little disappointing because there wasn't anything that flew up into the air and did like the old bottle rockets, but it was still cool. We made a huge mess out of $90+ dollars worth. The professional fireworks provided to the City of Rochester were very good this year. They put on a shorter show, with cooler stuff. The finale was the best they've had in years.



We've started Part 2 of the NASCAR Family Pool with the draft taking place last weekend. I scored some fairly good people, but still not completely happy. We've added my step-mother into the mix so it took away more of the good people then usual. However, I now have Dale Earnhardt Jr, which I stole from my husband, so that will be exciting to see. Here's hoping that I won't place 4th for the third time.



This weekend is all about rest and relaxation. I haven't slept more then 5 hours a night in 2 weeks because I think I have a problem, and because while at my parents the dog woke me every morning at 5am to go outside. Why he decided not to wake up my step-dad as usual, I don't know. Not that i minded, I just wanted to get some sleep! I plan on taking naps every chance I can this weekend. We're considering turning the phones off too.

NADS hair removal does not work. I tried it and Mike tried it and it pulls out about 2 hairs. nice. I guess something with the name NADS you should question anyway.



Last night I went to Shanda's Mary Kay party (no comment) while Mike hung out with Gabe and Tyler. Afterwards, Tyler and I were playing around and wrestling. As they were watching baseball I said to him, "Who's your favorite baseball player?" He loves Sammy Sosa so I thought he'd say that. Nope. He says in his most conversational three-year old voice, "Ummm, I sink it's my dad." His dad plays softball every week and he loves to go. Isn't that the cutest? Then he told Mike, "I'm going to help you put your sandals on cuz your feet stink!" Last, Gabe asks him to tell us what he did at dinner tonight. "I tooted and then we blamed it on Mommy." :-)



I do not suggest watching Brandy: Special Delivery on MTV. It's very dumb.



Tim Penny, former MN Congressman announced today that he is leaving the DFL party and running on the Independence Party ticket for governor against Roger Moe (DFL) and Tim Pawlenty (R). I already liked Tim Penny, so this really excites me about the race this year.



I'm looking forward to the weekend, and only a three day week next week. Then, vacation from July 4-10. Mike leaves tonight for 'up Nort' for his 10-day vacation. He's got all kinds of plans and I told him to not get drunk and fall down. He responded, "I won't get drunk and fall into the bonfire." I Hope not!

Got into a discussion with a guy at work today on the whole Pop, Soda, Coke, Tonic issue. He didn't believe me that I had heard that in Boston it's tonic, other ares it's Soda. In Minnesota it's Pop. I know that in North Carolina, it's Coke, no matter the brand. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it tonic if it's flavored and fizzy in Boston?


It's DAMN hot here and we have no air at work. Can you say a** of a landlord? Called the guy in the past 2 weeks almost everyday because we've had the motor in the air conditioner break, the toilet in the women's bathroom is missing the bolt that holds the ball down, 2 computers crashed, one entire room lost power (kids blew fuses hooking up sound equipment) and two desks lost power from their outlets. It was hilarious. The landlord 'claims' that we are doing something. All the while this guy smokes like 3 packs a day, including while he is visiting you in our office. Considering we work against the tobacco industry, it's quite the giggle :) At least we're getting the computers fixed!!



Got the Osbourne's Family Album CD today. The guy I mentioned that I am having the debate with bought it for a giveaway at an event. He then realized it had parental advisory stickers on it and we can't have that! Thus, I scored a CD. It has good songs on it including Pat Boone's version of Crazy Train. (The theme song version on MTV).
Also included are: Papa Don't Preach, John Lennon's Imagine, The Car's Drive, Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight, Mama I'm Coming Home, and the original Crazy Train. Complete with great lines from the TV show, the best quote is written in the liner notes: "I love you more then life itself...but you'r f***ing mad..." America's New Family. :)

Mike L.: you deserve a medal of honor for sitting through a ceremony like that. I would have laughed and gotten into trouble. Or, perhaps, it was so bad you couldn't even laugh? That should go into a Cameron Crowe movie, because it's waaaay worse then Joe singing "Greatest Love of All" in Say Anything.



Weekend was a slow hot one, in the 90's. Left work at noon on Friday and had lunch with some co-workers. Nice to blow off some steam. We have a rule in the summer: do not work more then 37.5 hours if you can help it, as that is all we are required to work. Since we work 60 hour weeks or more in the winter, we all try to take advantage of summer months. Got home, took a lovely nap..which I have been unable to do in a long time. Mike and I went out shopping but I got cranky and annoyed. Pricing as usual was f*ed up. Target is usually good on not screwing ya, but at the cash register that night I was ready to tell them they were turning into Kmart. As a result, Mike did not receive the shirt he wanted and I did not get my Osbournes CD. Went on to Kohl's where Mike purchased a cool pair of 'dress sandals' for work. He calls them his Jesus shoes. I was so proud of him-he suggested getting them, not me!



Saturday we went to a different Target but no shirt. Went out to a not so great lunch at Perkins and then went to Wal-Greens. We purchased the semi-famous 'Nads' hair removal solution. Let's just see if it's fricking works like the commercial SAYS it does. Pain-free my ass...none of that waxing stuff works without a little bit of pain in my book. Remember the Friends episode (Ross and Rachel break up) while Monica and Phoebe use "I so want to be a Waxine girl!". Joe eats it when they get stuck in the bedroom because it's supposed to be all natural...



Visited our apartment pool both Saturday and Sunday. Nothing great, but it cools you off. I think the fun in it is watching the people. Sunday we went to Tyler's 3rd Birthday party. Never seen a kid who did not want to open his presents-wanted to play in his pool instead. However, he did get a Slip and Slide, so soon that was the popular item with the kids. Man, that thing has changed since I was kid. Now there is a bumper at the end to prevent you from going flying into the grass. Also chatted with Gabe's dad, who is one of the funniest old farts I've ever known. He's in his early 70's, has no teeth, survived Mercury poisoning from fish, broke his hip and leg, walks with a limp and a cane, gone through 2 wives who died of lung cancer, and has lived to tell about it all. When I came walking he said, "There's the one that tackled Mike for life..." Last year when I saw him he said, "Didn't you pose for PlayBoy?" As you can tell, this is where Gabe gets his sense of humor.



I am happy to report that while visiting both Target's, I did not have any crazy women in mini-vans telling me to move it over. I will concede with my brother: we are turning into cranky older people........:-)

I really don't have much to tell...it's been a boring few days.



I'm applying for a job down in Rochester (MN) for the hell of it. It's in media, which I'm anxious to get back to, and this would give me a really great starting point. A guy I used to work with at my current job called me and let me know. I'd be working with him primarily, which is a plus cause we got along really well. Mike and I are tired of the big city, and looking to move along. Nothing is holding us to the Twin Cities anymore. Our friends that we do things with on a regular basis live in Wisconsin, so what the hell? We'd probably still see them the same amount of time we do now! And, the cost of living is cheaper down there. Fingers crossed.



Had lunch with some of my TM kids yesterday. I realize that secretly I must still be about 16 because I laughed at all the gross things they told about. This kid tells me how he wiped his butt with a dollar bill, laid it on the sidewalk, and said that some lady came by and picked it up. How sick is this? But, I laughed...In response, I asked if he had 'Hitlered' anyone lately. Taking my cue from Cartman on South Park, I told him how Cartman put his finger down his butt and wiped it under his friends nose. Get it? :)


My life is sadly lacking when I find this stuff funny.....

Alright, quite tooling on me about my country music...might I point out that my brother was able to ESCAPE from the country music influence because he was in his teens and at the age where he did NOT have to attend concerts, jam sessions, etc with our parents. I was freaking 7 years old-did not have the choice. I believe, therefore, that is the reason why I picked up country. Before I expressed my opinons in my previous blog, I did say that I knew many of you did not like country...so I think I covered my ass there. Sorry, I still like it. I was the one who got on stage with my Dad's band and sang "You're Cheatin Heart" when I was 8. I received a dollar for my performance. I still have this dollar. I will not get into the discussion of Hank Sr./Hank Jr. End of story/rant. :-)



Try to catch MTV's Making of the Video of Kelly Osbourne's "Papa Don't Preach." You can tell Jack doesn't like the attention she's getting. I guess Jack can now turn around to Ozzy and say, "Dad, I hate Kelly." just as she did about him. Ahh, sibling rivalry. Would anyone agree that Jack is about the ugliest kid out there? Or is it just me?



This Shakespeare thing is so cool. In looking at our lineage, as it goes back to BC, we are also related to Charlemagne (Emperor of the Romans) and someone called Albert the Great as well. On the geneology site that Barry is doing research, one of the lines is traced to Adam and Eve. Technically, we are related to God. Some way, some how. When I told my grandpa this he said, "It's been a long and winding road to us since then hasn't it?" I don't know how the hell you can go back that far, but it's there. My step-dad said to me, "Maybe you'll go to church more now since you know you are related to God." :-) Ha



Off to the Great Northern reaches of Minnesota tomorrow to (the newly coined) MN Mike's parent's home. Hopefully it will be warm and nice out on the Birch Lake for some fishing, sunning and relaxing. There is some serious flooding going on in Roseau, MN the famed hockey town about 10 miles from the Canadian border. The whole city is under water at 23 ft, with 16ft being the flood stage. It's really sad. A co-worker of mine lives there, and her mom told her that even if she tried to come home, she would have to take a boat to their house.



I have to pass along one last thing, because it wouldn't be a blog without a story. I stopped at Target on my way home from work on Tuesday. As I pulled into a parking place and got out of my car and started to walk towards the store, this woman in a mini-van stops and says to me, "You need to MOVE it over." I'm like, WHAT? Turning around, I see that the person who had parked next to me had parked at a screwed up angle and messed up the parking for the rest of the row. I had parked between the lines, but there was a large gap between myself and this car. The next open space next to me was now not big enough to fit her van. Realize, I did not even do this on purpose, but simply pulled in because I was going to be in there for all of 5 minutes. As I turned around, she was driving down the next aisle smoking her damn cigarette. So I yelled, "Do you want me to move over?" It just hit me all the sudden and I got pissed. She waved her hand at me like "whatever". So I yelled back, "Are you SURE? Cuz I can f*cking move it for you!!" She just kept waving her hand at me. So, I left it and went into the store. When I came back out, there was a small station wagon pulled into the space next to me that was supposed to be 'too small'. This person had pulled so akwardly into the space, that there was literally 2 inches between my end of the car and their's. But, I squeezed through and made it out just fine. Do you think she had anything to do with it? And what the HELL is this world coming to when you have to be so freaking lazy to argue over a parking place close to the door? It was there that I realized why we don't carry concealed weapons. My anger was so out of control and shocked by this behavior, that I quite honestly felt like if I had a gun, I probably would have pulled it out. Scary thought. I think I might need anger management classes. Hope this doesn't scare anyone-I am honestly safe to leave your children with!

Congrats to my brother for taking the time to screw off....sounds like a great time.



Mike L.: I grew up on country...during the Outlaw phase in the 1978-1982 range. When you dad plays in country bands your whole life, it's hard not to like it. :)



Short weekend, or so it seemed. Went to Rochester on Friday night, had dinner with my parents (crappy Mexican) and was able to drive them around in my new car. I think they liked it? Saturday, got up and took off for a wedding in Cresco, Iowa. Stopped in Harmony to visit the grandparents along the way. Grandpa told us that on Sunday it was Laura Ingalls Wilder Days in Burr Oak (she lived in the town where my grandparents lived when she was 9) and there was going to be a parade. Get this: Grandpa and Grandma were the Honorary Grand Marshalls of the parade and were going to ride in the pace car at the beginning. Too funny and too cool. I think they were actually looking forward to it. They are the second longest living residents of Burr Oak, well known and well liked, which I'm sure contributed to them being picked.



Left from there for the wedding. Typical small town church wedding, etc. My mother had my cousin and I in stiches because a little girl in front of us kept talking to my mom. She must have been around 3? She says rather loudly at one point, "Do you have a tattoo?" Why she asked this, I do not know. But, when you're in church, bored and trying to be quiet, it was funny. This little girl also spent most of the service turned around staring at my uncle and cousin who are black. It was cute :)



The bride had a cool dress-kind of Tarzan like going over only one shoulder. It was a straight skirt, and because this girl is so tiny, it looked great. Food, pork sandwiches (small town Iowa remember) along with a vegetable salad, fruit, and home made dill pickles. Dance was a blast because they had the same DJ that we had at our wedding. Jeff Duncan is well worth the extra $75 you pay to request him. We boogied it up until about 11pm and took off back to Rochester. Can I just say that people really lose their inhibitions at wedding dances when a few drinks are involved! And watching my 13 year old cousin Tyler do his moves a la Chris Tucker from Rush Hour, made for a good time.

Not to get into the topic of Urinal Mats or anything, but after reading my brother's post, we had some pop up at work as something called a "Concert Creative". What is this you might ask? It seems the kids have chosen items to display the Target Market name at concerts. One of which is a little yellow mat with a picture of a Tobacco Executive on it. Interesting. Apparently there is a difference between a urinal cake and a urinal mat. Having never used a urinal, I know very little about this.



Kudos to my step-dad for finally cracking the Webb family tree past 1800. I think (?) we should be proud to note that we are related to William Shakespeare!?! Still trying to figure out the lineage myself, but it looks like he is probably a uncle of sorts back to about 1564. Looking forward to that search.



I know that for many of you Country music is not your favorite, or something you may even listen to...but I've got to point out two really great songs I've listened to lately. One my Dad played for me by Hank Williams Jr called "Bluesman". If you ever saw the TV movie called Living Proof: The Hank Jr. Story, it's in there. I remembered it well. Good Tune. Second, Tim McGraw's latest album: Set This Circus Down is fantastic. The tune "Cowboy In Me" is one of the best I've heard in a long time. I'm finding that I'm getting sick of Top 40 lately...along with Shakira (Mike, I saw the Shakira Diva thing you were talking about. It sucked big time.) Eminem, Ja Rule, etc. God Help Us. Look at the names I just typed out?????



Along those same lines, when I spent the weekend at my dad's a few weeks back, I brought along my guitar so we could jam a little like the old days. Dad plays harmonica all the time now, but picks up the guitar on occasion. I kept digging out all these old songs he hadn't done in years. It was cool. I had to laugh at this one called "Amanda" by Waylon Jennings. Since the guy recently died, we both were excited to play it again. There is a part that goes..."I got my first guitar when I was 14. Now I'm crowding 40 and I'm still wearing jeans." Dad, of course, re-writes the lines to say, "I got my first guitar when I was 39...Now I'm over 60 and I still got my hair." I guess you had to be there. :) I wish I could be in a band sometimes!



Not much else going on. Boring weekend. Read two FULL books this weekend, something I have NOT done in forever (I read too fast sometimes. I'm probably what you call a skimmer. That's why I can re-read books, because I pick up something everytime.
Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox. Pretty decent, but hard to get into. I also read
Reeve Lindbergh's memoir about her family. I enjoyed learning about her parents and what amazing people they were. She is an extremely talented writer, and I virtually felt like she took me with her to visit all the people and places she wrote about. Also, Went to Episode 2 for the second time. I highly suggest doing this, and then watching the trilogy. As Yoda would say "Learn much, I did."

Scanned some pics last night of the nephew...he's growing already. It's amazing how babies differ. Some gain so fast, others it's just a casual growth. This little guy is starting to get the chubby cheeks at last :)



Pat, didn't know if I had sent you these pictures of Tyler and Riley, so am posting them. Check out the cheeks on Riley :)



Liking the new car. Slowing getting adjusted to driving it and knowing the sounds, etc. There is a rattle in the rear passenger door if the door isn't shut just right. I really want that checked out. Probably will need new tires by winter. I'm concerned about the anti-lock brakes this winter, having never used them before. Learning to drive all over again, as we do each winter in Minnesota.



Staying home this weekend for a change. June is already filling fast. I really wish we had a house so that we could spend time outside doing stuff. Our apartment deck isn't the greatest for hanging out on. We're hitting the '90's today, finally!

Photos of the new car....



My co-worker suggested that I name my car, and said it needed a slutty name because it's red.



So, introducing, LOLA



;-)

Busy week last week....



Bought a car on the 22nd. Let's just say for my first car buying experience, I wasn't impressed. It's scary! Mike, however, did a great job with the price concerns and we got what we wanted for it. 2000 Pontiac Grand Am, 3.4, V-6. 35,000 miles, 4-door, and it's candy apple red. With a CD-Player, I'm so happy. I love my car. Drove it down to Rochester over the weekend. Stayed at my dad's and let him drive it. He REALLY liked it :) It rides like a dream, smooth and quiet. Quite a change from an '87 Buick to a '00 Pontiac.



Haven't taken a picture yet, so here's the identical version of one I found online.



My work situation I wrote about earlier worked itself out quite nicely. By standing my ground and not freaking out, I remained on the upswing with full-support from my boss. A re-write of the document is in order (nicer version) and will be submitted as a memo. I feel good about this.



Got a great Elvis lunchbox at the Mall of America on Friday. My co-worker with the Brady Bunch lunch box was thrilled to have me eat lunch with her and her box today! We're quite the pair toting our lunchboxes. It's great! The coolest thing was that the Norwegian relatives staying with my parents insisted on buying me a gift. Seeing how crazy I went over the Elvis stuff, they thought it would be the most appropriate. How nice is this? Cool people.

Mike: You and my brother must like a lot of the same things: Pat had the same Classic Football Game in about 1980. I believe Mom still have it somewhere :) Cool that it's back!



Sharon, Jack and Kelly Osbourne were on Howard Stern last night. 2 things: Howard asked Sharon about giving Kelly the finger wiping incident on one another. And, when Howard asked what was up with Sharon's new friendship with Rosie O'Donnell. Jack's response: "It's a big lesbian love fest." Kelly got really ticked at him for saying that. It was too funny. Second half is on tonight, 10pm Central on E.



Just got the call on my car. Damages are over $1400 so they will total it. But, guess what they're going to pay me for the car? Over $1900!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Plus, an extra $50 for the loss of clothing and luggage (bag) in the vehicle. This is a damn good thing to have happen. I'm buying a newer vehicle this week!

Because I'm still relatively new in the working world, I struggle with many decisions I make. Ever written an internal document and had it come back and bite you in the ass? My boss accidentally (it appears) forwarded it on to someone in the business office and there were some strongly worded observations on this other person's position as part of our org. Needless to say, she (person I wrote about) is not too happy with me. And, my boss is in Denmark and unreachable. However, I maintain that nothing I wrote was wrong, everything was truthful and they were simply MY observations and opinions, that my supervisor asked me to write. To be honest, I was tired of the fakey, sugar-coating stuff that was going on and so I wrote things in a manner that weren't quite as business like as I normally would have. Any suggestions on how I form a defense plan? I'm not embarrassed, and although I would rather have had it paraphrased, there was no other way this would have gotten my point across. Sometimes MN nice gets frustrating....



Paige's room looks awesome. My sister-in-law is one great decorator! Guard your wallet, Pat, when she and Pam live nearer to one another :)



Ever seen the movie Joe Dirt with David Spade? Better then I thought.



Friday night we went to a surprise 30th birthday for friend Shanda. You could tell that Gabe planned it (her husband). He called us 2 hours before we were due there to say, "Crap, we're having a surprise for Shanda tonight. I forgot to call a bunch of people. Can you come?" Had to laugh. And we went. She was surprised and asked, "Who coordinated this?" Couldn't believe her husband had managed to pull it off. Funny part-she said that her 3 year old Tyler said earlier in the day, "I have a surprise for you. Happy Birthday Mommy!" He knew about it and did a great job for his age to keep a secret :) The funnier part is that he keeps switching between Happy Birthday and Happy Mother's Day-likes to wish his mommy both. And, his daycare lady is pregnant and he keeps getting breasts and belly mixed up on which is what. The other day he told Shanda, "I like your boobs Mommy!" She says she wished she had never mentioned the name of what those were :)


My 13-year old cousin Tyler asked his Dad the other day, "When guys are older and then don't get married, does that make them priests?" :-) They're Lutheran. This is from the kid, who was told that our Fore-fathers came here from Norway, asked his mom, "You had FOUR FATHERS?!?"

I've posted some digital pictures here. They consist of work (the crazy teens and others) as well as our friend's new puppy, my broken car, etc.


I agree with Mike L. Hawk wussed out big time on Tough Enuff. I think Jackie might pull through if she keeps up the good work. Kenny got to be King Kenny from the looks of the chick he picked up. :)


The season finale of Friends was decent. The 'surprise' ending sucked donkeys. I have to say they did a fair job in the birthing sequence. I thought with Rachel being all fancy they wouldn't have her looking like she did. Still, TV births are wierd. Phoebe shot out triplets and barely grimaced. I did not watch ER yet, as we went to see....Episode II: Attack of the Clones!


Now, I heard people on the radio today say they liked it better then the first. I can understand that. Some are saying that they liked it better then Star Wars or Return of the Jedi. I think those people are going a bit far! The battle scenes are amazing, and the last battle is the best. However, Yoda carries the fricking movie. Because he is now animiated digitally and not operated as a puppet, he's able to do so much more. Very cool. The love story is kind of stiff and dorky, but needed of course to set things up. Hayden Christensen who plays Anakin is decent, but is going to be wonderful as he descends into the dark side. Ewan McGregor's Obi-Won is great-perfect pre-cursor for the version of Alec Guiness. I missed the cool costumes of Queen Amidala in the first, but Natalie Portman's Padme is played much softer and still has some nifty looking outfits. It reminds me very much of Leia. Much of the movie is the audience going, "OHHH, I get it..." because so much is being set-up from things we didn't quite get from the original trililogy. My vote: 3 out of 4 stars. I think I only like it a tiny bit more then the first.


Might I point out that this time in the theater, one couple brought their 2 year old to a 9:15pm movie. She was not quiet. It took a 16 year old kid in front of them to turn around and tell them that we'd all waited a long time for this movie and how disruptive this was. That was impressive! He wasn't mean, just serious. Second thing, another couple brought their infant who whimpered frequently. She just stuck a boob in it's mouth to shut it up though. I'm ready to give up on movie theaters. No cell phones rang in this one though.


Lordy Lordy. Adjustor looks at the car today. Pray for me.

No news on the car, yet. It sits sadly in our apartment lot waiting for it's destiny. I will post pictures of destruction tomorrow.

I agree with my brother on the police-why did I have to go find the car? I can only guess. They'd rather put my life in danger then theirs? Or not waste time if it wasn't my car?

Minnesota's budget appears to be balanced. My job is safe for another year. The state is borrowing money from the Tobacco Endowment, however, have plans to pay it back. Hopefully they keep their promises. Check out the STRIB article. They say it will NOT hurt prevention programs like ours.

Jobs suck sometimes. Red, the dad on That 70's Show says it best. "That's why they call it WORK! If it was enjoyable, it would be called Happy Fun Time!" Thoughts are with you Mike.

Apparently, I spoke too soon on my car! This morning my co-worker, Pogi (his real name is Eric, but I digress) walks in and asks me what my license plate number is on the car. I told him and he looks at a slip of paper and said, "I parked next to your car last night at my apartment lot." Holy Crap! I called the police, they told me to not approach the car but go to see if it was still there. It was, so I called them back and they met me there. They did not finger print and they didn't seem to think the people lived in the complex. Probably just dumped it there. The kicker is: it's 5 blocks from our place.

A total of anywhere of 20-30 miles were put on. They jimmied the lock and put a hole there by it. Next, they cracked the shaft of where the steering wheel sits on. Started it from there. Next, graffiti all over the passenger side and on the dash (inside). Lovely permanent markers. Chucked out the glove box and took nothing but my insurance information and the photocopy of the title. Took the rosery I had hanging from the rear-view mirror. Dumped out all of sweaty gym bag clothes and shoes, but took the bag. Pop cans (not mine) and a cigarette packages all over, and my maps scattered all over. Busted the ash tray, which never opened and kicked in a lot of the dash. I tried to start it, and although the key does go in, it does not turn in the iginition. Insurance will take a look at it and find out if it's fixable or total it. wild.

Mike says maybe they took it for a ride and realized how shitty the car was. Haha

Forgot to mention that I went to my step-sister's graduation from Community College on Friday night. Key note speaker was former MN Governor Arne Carlson. Not a fan of the guy (Republican) but his speech was quite good. The real fun of the night was during the National Anthem. The guy forgot the words. I have never witnessed this before. I thought something was up when he said, "perilous night" instead of fight and then he went into "for the ramparts we...." and then he mumbled something like "hmmm, hmm". The guy behind him says, "Rockets red glare". The singer shrugged and jumped back in and everyone cheered. I didn't, I laughed hysterically. For some reason I thought this was extremely funny. Or else I'm just mean.

I'm also the person that couldn't ever stop laughing in class when someone accidentally farted. :)

No word on the car. I like my rental car because it's smaller car then I've ever had. But, it's a Ford Escort, and even though the new ones are better, I'd still never buy one. No offense to those out there that have one. It's just that if I came home with a Ford, every male member of my immediate family would shoot me. GM-the way to go. In the paper I looked at a Cavalier, Corsica, Lumina, Malibu, etc. Another Buick LeSabre would put me in the grandpa category-the new ones are huge. Any suggestions? Since my husband is tall and Mr. Muscles, I have to have a vehicle that will fit him too. And, 4-door is a must, since parenthood would be on the horizon in the coming years.

Mike is currently benching 380lbs. His goal is 405. OH MY GOD. He quit drinking pop/caffeine (or soda, coke, or whatever the hell else it's called) again 3 months ago and he is amazed at what power it's given him. And, it's always a given while he's working out that some dude will walk up and say, "Hey, where can I get the juice you're on?" He loves to say "This is nothing but hard work." Cool.

SNL was decent this week. Will Farrell's last impression of George Bush. I can't believe he's leaving. My favorite part is his reference to the widow of King Hussein of Jordan, "Queen Amidala." I'm willing to bet Queen Noor gets a laugh out of that one. My favorite skit was near the end. The show with Maya Rudolph and Rachel Dratch in "Wake up Wakefield". As always, Maya will be the future 'Mrs. Randy Goldman.'

FYI to Mike L.: You'll be happy to hear that this Webb did not attract morons in customers/service/general public this weekend. Unless spending time with my extended family on Sunday for Mother's Dad qualifies. It might.

Funny story: ran into a guy I dated a few times in high school at Shopko over the weekend. He stops me as I walk by him and says, "Are you a Webb?" Then, he remembers my name and I finally realize who it is. I went out with this guy like 4 times total in my senior year. He was a year younger and SOOO immature. I knew his sister and she hooked us up. Nice guy, cute, but clueless. He was in a foster home-his mother had 9 kids (hard core Catholics) was scizophrenic and the Dad had walked out on them. The mom cracked and most of the younger kids were farmed out to foster homes. The kid had no confidence. Anyway, he tells me as we're standing there that when we dated he'd never kissed a girl. Let's just say he NEVER kissed me. Why is he telling me this now? I turned bright red and laughed. He thought it was funny. Wanted to know if I was married, etc. Long story short-uncomfortable and wierd. Brought back memories I didn't really want to remember I guess!

Ocean's Eleven came in the mail on Friday on DVD. Good movie.

Interesting statistic: Only 4 percent of people complain to management about bad service. 87 percent tell 10 friends about it and where it occurred. I've decided to become a part of the 4 percent. What do you think?

Story of the week: my car was stolen on Wednesday.

I will repeat: MY CAR WAS STOLEN ON WEDNESDAY. Laugh, please. I have many times. OR, you can say what most others have said: WHAT?!?!?! Why the hell would anyone want to steal a 1987 Buick LeSabre?

Parked my car in front of my apartment on Tuesday at 5:30pm. Locked as usual, in full view from my apartment deck. Left for work at 8AM the following morning. Walked outside and thought, "hmm, that's funny. I thought I parked here."

Walked up and down the lot going, what the hell? Looked in the front lot, and started to panic a small bit. Went into the house and called my husband and said, "Tell me you know where my car is." His response? "I don't know what you are talking about." I lost it. Started to freak out and cry, he says he's coming home. I freaked for 2 minutes, and then calmed. The madder I got, the calmer I was. Called the stupid ass rental office and asked if they had heard anything? Did they tow it? Nothing. Called the police. Filed a report. Sent a cop over. Called the insurance company. I was on the phone a lot. Cop took a look outside and found no broken glass, etc. Probably popped the lock with a coat hanger, and according to my step-dad, most likely used a heavy duty screwdriver to start it. And off they went!

NO valuables inside. My gym bag with shorts and a tshirt, along with my Reeboks were in there. Total: about $50. Had bags of old clothes in the trunk that I was taking to donate. No biggy there. If they do not find the car in 30 days, the insurance company will buy the title from me for the selling price of what a '87 is going for these days. My brother checked out the Kelly Blue Book and I should get anywhere from $350-$700. After putting $300 into last week on the f*ing CV shaft, I'm not happy. I guess the bonus is that this forces us to buy a car. The house fund is now seriously depleted, but I'm glad we had the money there to use. Pushes back buying a house by about 4 months I'm guessing, but we've got time. Final word: I want to move.

Happy Friday!

To follow my brother's lead for today, I remember quite well the day of his wedding. What a blast! It was only the 2nd time I had ever gotten drunk in my life :) (Realize that I went into my 2nd year of college after this and downed more than my fair share.) Happy Anniversary!

Happy Birthday to my cousin Whittney today too. Hard to believe she is 17. I remember the day she arrived!

Forgot to mention that I saw Spider Man on Friday night. My rating: 3 out 5 stars. Wasn't bad, but I was expecting more. Surprisingly, I really liked Tobey Maguire as Spidey. He had the perfect balance of nerdy Peter Parker and ultra cool Spider Man. I was super excited about Willem Dafoe playing the Green Goblin, but he acted like it was a huge step down for him and the Goblin character just got to be dumb. It wasn't the coolness like Jack Nicholson playing the Joker. First hour was good, second hour started to slow down. It probably didn't help that we had a group of asshole teenagers behind us. Let me just recount what they did:

1st: Had to save a million seats for their friends who didn't show up. Considering this was opening night, seats were hard to come by.
2nd: Started talking, burping and farting the MINUTE the show began. After 15 minutes I turned around and said, "Guys,come on." They quieted briefly.
3rd: After an hour of this I turned around and said: "SHUT THE F*CK UP!" Response: the classic look of "oh shit".
4th: Not five minutes after this happened, I hear 'clink' and feel a gush of liquid all over my sandals and feet. My response: "JESUS CHRIST"
5th: A guy sitting near us went and got an employee who walked back there and said, "you guys are this close to getting kicked out." They finally stopped.

Mike says they were drinking booze wrapped in brown paper bags, from what he could see. These kids couldn't have been more then 16. I sincerely hope I never acted this shitty in a movie when I was 16. Or am I just getting old? This may have had something to do with me not liking the movie better.

The final episode of the Osbournes tonight. I'm sad. Did you hear they are coming back next season? Sharon managed to get $20 million baby! She's my new idol.

I've posted to my blog a page devoted to quotes. I will add to it as I think of even BETTER ones.

Might I add that Mike L. had to correct me again. I did not know it was Jeremy PIVEN not Priven. Oops. I guess I better pay attention to play in this league.

New site that plays off those cool motivational posters and cards you can get. Here's an example: Cluelessness. There are no stupid questions, but there are a LOT of inquisitive idiots." I'm posting this one on my desk at work. Check out: www.despair.com

Highly recommend reading this editorial from The Sporting News, last week. If you have beef with Commissioner Selig, this hits the nail on the head.

This weekend we moved my grandparents out of their home of almost 50 years to a retirement community. Tough one-can't even imagine how hard this must be for them. I hated moving from my house I had lived at for almost 20 years! Anyway, cool story. I'm unpacking the kitchen stuff at the new place and Grandpa comes over and asks me to find his 'sippin' wiskey.' Not knowing for sure what this was, I pulled out the only bottle I had seen which was of Southern Comfort. (I have never known my Grandpa to drink). He asks me to find him a glass, at which time he pours himself a little shot and downs it. I laughed my ass off. He says it relaxes him and I have to say, he was in a perky mood after downing his tottie. :) Plus, he got a new 27' TV that he was looking forward to watching.

Is Tough Enuff getting good this week or what? A new cut is coming on Thursday. I DO NOT want it to be Hawk. I love this guy! However, I think it might be him or Anni. Is it just me, or is Anni a bit mannish?

Last week's episode of the Osbournes was my favorite. Fave line: when Ozzy was playing the slot machine and talking to the camera and all the sudden just goes, "I just won!" I think Sharon was getting a little tipsy! BTW, she is one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. And, apparently Ozzy went to Washington too!

I come back from a lovely work trip to Northern Minnesota and find a full blown WAR going on with Mike L. and my brother on movie quotes.

First, I bow to you Mike on your quote from Ferris Bueller. I did mix two scenes together. My only defense is: I have no defense. However, if we're allowed to correctly identify the quotes from the ORIGINAL SCRIPT ON THE WEB SITE this might change things a bit.

Might I point out though, that a few years back I tried to tell my brother that Jeremy Piven was in the movie "Say Anything" with John Cusack. He told me repeatedly that I was wrong, and made it a point to call Mike L. so that he could prove me wrong. Mike rendered me the winner, as well as repeating verbatim the scene I had quoted with Piven. This could get good.

However, my husband tends to be the king of quotes at our house, and I think using his expertise, I might be able to come into league with Mike L.

There is no way to narrow these movie quotes to a Top 10. They're all too good.

Movies aside, I may have to list quotes from Friends as well. Too many good Chandler quotes to not acknowledge.

Back to the real world this week. Had a cool time in Iowa, although the weather was cold and rainy most of the time. We didn't do much, but mostly took it easy and hung out. Thursday we went up to Davenport to eat at Steak and Shake (interesting experience) and then a little shopping. I ate my first Krispy Kreme donuts (yes, they're fricking amazing and I gained 4 pounds over the weekend from eating them) and had Mike's Aunt Tracey's amazing lasagne. Friday we took off to do some cemetary hunting. Mike found many of his relatives down there, and was able to gain a ton more information from his Uncle on their family history. We also went to Oakville, near Wapello, and found the cemetary where my great uncle John is buried. It was nice to be able to go back.

The cool part (btw the drive went pretty good too) was on the way back we stopped outside of Spring Valley, MN to check out a few cemetaries of my relatives. I found the tiny Bloomfield Cemetary finally, and located my Great-Great Grandparents (my grandfather's maternal grandparents). In addition, I found 2 of their children buried next to them, and 2 Great, Great, Great Uncles. This was ultra cool. Although I froze my ass off, it was well worth the trip. To be honest, it feels like I'm repaying a debt to my ancestors by doing this stuff.

Cheapest Gas on the trip: Atalissa, Iowa, $1.27.

FYI-working on recording my Sharon voice. (I tried last night, but was getting bad quality) I will also post photos of our new nephew, and a picture of Gabe and Shanda's kids. Mike was using the computer last night, and we tend to not be able to each use it for short stretches. Rather, it takes a LONG time to get stuff done, so we have to trade nights :)

Getting my car fixed today at last. I realized how dangerous it was getting when I turned a corner at the grocery store last night and heard this clunk. CV Shaft, can't wait to see the bill! I also noticed last week that I have a crack in my windshield. Today, it's turned into a larger crack. In other words, the time is nearing that my car is turning into a piece o crap and I should start parking it on cinder blocks in front of my trailor house or something....It's bad enough parking it at the Apt. building next to brand new Crown Victoria's, cuz we live next to so many old people!

Ozzy tonight. Jay Leno's 10th Anniverary and Bob Hope bloopers. What to do??

Leaving for Brainerd tomorrow for work. Health conferences are not my idea of a good time!

Got a really cool envelope of information from my 1st cousin, once removed Janet Hoskey Kvidera. (Art and Ethel's daughter) I've been touch with her regarding some family history information. Because she is the oldest grandchild, she had a lot more details then I ever imagined, including pictures. The package included 1 picture of all 6 kids of Vance and Julia's, many other ones over the years, some of Vance and Julia, other large family pics at gatherings, etc. Some funny ones of my dad in there when he's a little kid, with his brothers. Other things included group sheets of each family, with their children. I don't know most of my Webb cousins. And many great pieces about my great-grandpa Vance wanting to play baseball. Apparently, he was offered the chance to go pro (or close to it) but his Dad told him he couldn't. Therefore, he became a mechanic and farmer, neither of which it sounds like he enjoyed. An interesting look at a guy I didn't know much about.

Our scanner crapped out on Saturday night. Mike's on the kick of scanning these obituaries he has into his geneology program. It's cool, because it allows you to automatically insert them with the person. Anyway, as I'm sitting in the den with him (i'm counting how many shot glasses I own) we hear this big crack. Test it out for awhile, takes 15 minutes to scan, then it freezes the computer. Pick the thing up and see this small metal object floating around on the inside. Hmm, I think it's broke. We drove over to Best Buy to simply look.....but bought. It's a Microtek, and is a much better upgrade from the $30 one we had that lasted 3 years. This new one has one touch scanning, copy, to email, and the coolest part: a device that scans slides and negatives. It doesn't do a great job, but it works just the same. With the new printer we have, printing and scanning has become a sweet deal. I haven't set foot near the computer since then, as Mike has taken over.

Work has slowed to a crawl, which hasn't happened since January. And even then, it only lasted a week. No more details on the legislative battle. The Attorney General has filed suit to take money from the endowment away from MPAAT, which is a group that is funded similarily to us. If they get the ax, it doesn't look good for us. Thank god the last 5 days have been quiet in the news for us. Last week was a nasty one between radio and TV. As Jesse Ventura said, "I thought we got over this lyrics business in the 60's." No, I think it was over in the 80's after Tipper Gore didn't get much further with it. To quote the dude from Twisted Sister, "Tipper Gore is a twit." I might have voted for her husband, but.....

The Osbournes tonight. I have to say this has become the highlight of the week, along with The Real World and Tough Enuff. Yesterday at work the guys kept having me do my Sharon impression. It's the one when she raises her voice up really high and says stuff like, "there's a little voice telling me to go to Tiffany's." My secret wish is to be able to conquer the British accent. I can do some, but not others. I've tried doing Irish but that's even harder. Anyway, I can relax with my Ozzy tonight.

My back is fricking killing me lately. I don't know what happened and why, but it seems like it's my neck and middle back. I've tried heating pad, moist heat, and last night a cold pack. Since we're going to Iowa this week, which means sleeping on something other then a bed, I'm a bit worried. I don't know if I need a chiropractor or a good massage. And, the damn car place won't call me back with an estimate on my CV shaft that needs to be replaced. It has to get done soon because it' s starting to get dangerous to drive it. $300 here I come! Fix your car or go on a vacation is a real shitty decision to have to make.

Last week was a busy one...


Mike's sister gave birth to a healthy 5lb 15 oz baby boy on April 15. Name: Alex Michael. Uncle Mike is quite proud to say the least! We drove up to Duluth that same day to visit-it was cool. The funniest part is this: we left St. Paul at 1pm and it was 91 degrees. When we arrived in Duluth at 3:30, the temperature in the harbor was 39 degrees and there was zero visibility because of the fog. How's that for April in Minnesota???


Went to La Crosse with my step-sister Janelle on Thursday. She was accepted there and wanted to check out the school and see if she wants to go there. She is having conflicted feelings about going, because she could go to Winona State and be done in 2 years. If she transfers to WI she'll probably have to go 3. I told her that she had two options: stay in rochester and your life stays the same and you may never move or go to La Crosse, meet new people, have fun and do something with your life. She's leaning towards getting out, which is good. SHe lives with her boyfriend and I really think she nees more then just that in her life. She's got a wicked good GPA going and is smart, so I think she'd do well. The problem has been that she needs someone to walk her through this stuff and help her figure it out. Her mom wants to help but can't, and she doesn't want to bother Dad. So, I volunteered and we had a pretty good time. She met with her advisor and figured out what she has to take and then we got a tour of the campus. I wish I had gone down there for a tour-I like it better then River Falls! I'm hoping she can find a way to get there.


Didn't do much but drive most of the week, with having to go to Rochester on Wednesday night, to get up early and go to La Crosse Thursday. We're leaving for Muscatine, Iowa on Wednesday night, and I have to say I'm not looking forward to being in a car for another 5 hours. Yuck.


West Wing should be really cool this week, with interviews, Clinton, etc. The Osbournes are on the cover of Rolling Stone this week. Good article.

My quote of the week: "Dad, I hate Jack..." Ozzy: "What do you want me to do about it? If it bothers you, just ignore it." I don't know why that's funny. I hope some of you were able to see Saturday Night Live-Horatio Sands Ozzy was the best skit I've seen in awhile.


Second quote today, this one from my dad: "random thoughts from a cluttered mind...." that's me for the week.

So, I'm watching my brother and Mike L. post their blogs and I'm laughing my head off. Seems like Mike L's getting quite the following of people starting their own blogs...

In the state of Minnesota today, things are getting pretty interesting with the legislative battle over the budget, and new government candidates. Yesterday, Rep. Tim Pawlenty, the Republican Majority Leader, who is also running for governor, decided this in the following AP article:

ST. PAUL -- House Republicans on Thursday stepped up their pressure on Target Market, an anti-smoking advocacy group funded with money they want to use to reduce the state's budget deficit.

House Majority Leader Tim Pawlenty criticized the group for co-sponsoring a concert later this month that features alternative rock bands that use obscene language and sing about violence, drinking and drug use.

"We need to find creative ways to appeal to teens, but this is like treating cocaine addiction by encouraging heroin use," said Pawlenty, who is also a candidate for governor.

Pawlenty said Target Market should cancel its financial support for the April 30 concert, which features Sum 41 and Goldfinger, in St. Paul. A spokeswoman for Target Market didn't return a phone call Wednesday night. (not true)

Target Market, an independent group overseen by the state Department of Health, coordinates the state's anti-tobacco ad campaign aimed at 12- to 17-year-olds. It uses money from the endowment fund created by settlement of the state's lawsuit against the tobacco industry in the late 1990s.

House Republicans have proposed using $325 million from the $590 million endowment to reduce the state's deficit. Such a move could put Target Market out of business.

Last week, another Republican lawmaker, Rep. Kevin Goodno of Moorhead, criticized Target Market for an October concert in St. Cloud in which a punk band from Chicago sang songs with obscenities.

State Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said the two concerts are different cases. The band discussed last week was hired to play at a Target Market event, but the upcoming event is put on by a local radio station that Target Market paid $3,600 to co-sponsor.

"To me, it's a rather different thing for Target Market to have a presence," she said. "Target Market isn't hiring these bands. Target Market isn't creating this."

And the organization thinks it's an effective way to reach some hard-to-reach teens, she said. "To me, it's a question of effective marketing strategies," Malcolm said. "I accept that there's room to debate the effectiveness."

This is cracking me up. Fortunately, our governor, who hosts his own weekly lunch program on WCCO radio, commented that he thought this was a bunch of crap. The gist of his message was that he and his wife attended Ozzy Osbourne concerts when they were younger, and that it was up to PARENTS to protect their kids from lyrics, not a Representative. heehee He also asked, what's worse? Having your kid go to a concert with questionable lyrics, a phase that may only last a brief time, or get them hooked on smoking for the rest of their life? GO JESSE! The Strib is running something this weekend that might screw us pretty good, however, so it's on to a hard core fight again.


FYI-I've pulled out my husband's Ozzy CD's for a little trek down memory road. Did you recognize the theme song to the show? It's the first lines of Crazy Train!


Here's a list of movies that I thought of, in contribution to Pat: (no order, with quotes)

Ferris Bueller "I could be the Walrus and I'd still have to bum rides off people."
(corrected by Mike L.)
16 Candles "She getting married to oily bohunk."

Field Of Dreams "Ty Cobb wanted to play, but none of us could stand the son-of-bitch when he was alive, so we told him to stick it!"

Say Anything "Lloyd, see ya round. Maybe."

Slap Shot "You go to the penalty box. You feel shame."

La Bamba "Rock and Roll in Spanish?"

Fast Times at Ridgemont High "Learn it, Know it, Live it."

Revenge of the Nerds "What the f --- are Robster Craws?"

The Green Mile "What happens on the mile, stays on the mile."

Wierd Science "Anything bigger then a handful and you're risking a sprained tongue."

Forrest Gump "Momma said you can tell a lot about a person and they shoes"

Grease "I got chills...they're multiplying...and I'm looosing control."

Dumb and Dumber "I thought the Rocky Mountains would be a lot rockier then this. John Denver's full of shit."

Office Space "Hey Milton whaaaaat's happenin."

It's A Wonderful Life "You sit here, Mr. Potter, and weave your little web..."

Almost Famous "Your mom kind of freaked me out...."

Tommy Boy "Bees! OH MY GOD!"

Had a good birthday. 27 was painless, but like I said, the number itself feels old.

MN was hit good with a snowstorm (finally) and it closed pretty much everything. Was able to stay home because our policy is when the St. Paul schools are closed, so are we. However, we all worked at home. Calling kids, adults, whatever to have them call their damn legislator. The House voted this morning to take $350 million of the endowment to fund some of the debt. It's not sounding like it will get through the Senate too far, but we're not sure. I hate this crap and i'm sooooo sick of fighting it. I have to admit, I didn't do much today but my laundry. I designed 20-30 email blasts yesterday to kids and called around 30 of them. I guess I'm just wearing out.

Mike is gone this weekend up north, so I'm on my own again. I'm taking a nap and reading my books. BTW-seeing Doris Kearns Goodwin speak was AWESOME! I enjoyed it a lot. Madeline Albright is coming next month and I'm tempted to go hear her speak too.

Time to reflect...I'll be 27 on Friday. To be honest, that feels like a really old number. I don't feel it mentally, and people tell me I don't look it, but my face has the first indications of lines are showing. I have a laugh line going , and my chin has a big ole line circling it. What does this mean?!?! I guess I have good genes on my side, not that I really care about looking older. I get carted all the time, so I think I maintain I look about 24 or so. However, Mom doesn't really look her age, Grandma Garness has never really grayed at all and looks a lot younger then 84. Although Grandma Webb has white hair, her and Grandpa didn't really start to look their age until the last few years. Hey, if I look as good as they all do in my 80's, I'll be thrilled!

Last week, the whole age issue started to press when I found out my friend Syrentha had passed away from Breast cancer. I had worked with her at Digital City, my first job out of college, and she was really my mentor there. Taught me tons of computer stuff, including how to do rainman, the aol propriety language. When she and her husband moved to DC in 1999, I stayed with them when I went out there on vacation. Super great person and a lot of fun. She was diagnosed in 1999 at 27, and passed away January 12 at 31. Mark's mother had just recently passed away from cancer too, so I can't even imagine what he must be going through. I was pretty upset last Monday. Mike had the day off and came and took me out for lunch. I don't think he quite understood why I was upset right away. I think in his mind because she wasn't living around this area anymore, that I wouldn't have really known her all that well anymore. I kept in touch with her and had last talked with her in the summer. She was close to my age, and really one of the first people I know close to my age that died of cancer. Anyway, Mike and I spent last Monday night laying on the floor with the lights off, listening to music, and talking. It was a time to reflect and think about your family and friends. There are a lot of people I've blown off and I need to be the bigger person and try to contact them. Syrentha was a great person and I'm really my life is richer for having known her.

We bought a kick ass tv this weekend. A 32' and it rocks. We had to go by a stand for it too since it wouldn't fit into our entertainment center. Mike is pretty thrilled. Watching NASCAR on it on SUnday was cool. It also helps when I win. Matt Kenseth was my saviour. :)

Also, watched Man on the Moon this weekend, Say Anything (Lloyd, see ya round maybe), and The Green Mile. I've seen them all before but it was super fun to watch them all again. Jim Carey is fricking amazing as Andy Kaufman. Freaky. Mike and I have watched The Green Mile a ton lately, cuz it's always on. A few weeks ago I watched Cast Away until I was going to puke. Anyway, we've gotten to the point that TGM is hilarious, in some ways. The acting is superb. The dude that plays Wild Bill is so funny. "I'm currently cookin up some turds" or the way the Cajun dude, Del, thanks John Coffey, "I tank ya John, Mr. Jingles tanks you. My momma tank you, but she dead." Although this movie is very moving and emotional it's fun to watch in a different perspective. Highly recommend it. I love having HBO, Showtime and STARZ even though there are some days there isn't shit on!

Our funding is threatened again at TM becuase of the state of the budget in MN. We're in the REd pretty damn deep. Fingers crossed, fight again. Plus, our new ad agency doesn't know shit. They are so overwhelmed by all this that they can't keep things flowing. I hope they get their act together soon. Either way, I think I better prepare for a new job hunt come July. Hmmm, that would make a 4th company that I've worked for that has gone under. What the hell?????????????????????????

Okay...so when I try to argue NASCAR at the office, I get people that won't even LISTEN. Is that just me or the sport? I don't even get the words out barely of what strategy they use, and the response is: "Yeah, the put gas in the car." It's kind of frustrating, and not all of it has to do with NASCAR. I guess I'm the type of person who tries to listen as carefully as I can to the other person's viewpoint without interjecting or interuppting much. Not too many people in this world do that, I've learned.

Especially the scary, conservative crazie Republicans. I am not classifying all Republicans as this-just those ones like my friend Ryan, Jerry Falwell, and a few others.
These dudes are the ones that stir up stuff that does NOT need to be stirred up.

To quote the Onion after September 11th regarding Jerry Fallwell, "Is this guy a dick or what?"

SuperBowl was good, commercials disappointing. I did like Britney's Pepsi retrospective. Cool. SNL with her was okay. Highpoints were: Will Farrell as a LDSer on the slopes during the Olympics yelling, "Have you found Jesus Christ in your life yet?"; The monologue with Kattan, Britney and Justin; Barbie and Skipper in the Dream House; and Weekend Update with Fallon singing his tunes. Will Farrell's impression of Neil Diamond ROCKS! "We're coming to America..."

This weekend I spent time with my parents and grandparents. Let's just say I learned a few valuable lessons about the differences in my Mom's family and my Dad's family.

Animal cruelty, can't stand it. I couldn't even watch Old Yeller or Where the Red Fern Grows. So, guess what happens? A little kid, who will remain nameless, threw his new puppy off the stairs and broke it's leg. I can't even deal with it, it makes me so pissed off. A cast on a 10 week old puppy, and orthopedic surgery to boot. Little f...er. I sincerely would spank him, lock him in his room, and make sure he knew how serious this is. Of course, mom and dad are telling those who know, "don't tell anyone about this....we're really upset about it." One more fricking reason to not need to talk to my uncle.

Back to the orthodentist yesterday after being gone just short of 5 years. My teeth looked great, my bite has stayed put, and I got a new retainer and bite plane. The goal is to wear it less and less ( I didn't tell him I already only wear it a few times a week if that). Top priority is if my jaw hurts or my teeth feel like they're shifting. My TMJ doesn't both me very often, which is proof that 4 years of hell wearing some strange appliances and braces paid off.

Finished scanning all the pictures from Grandpa and Grandma's box. Tried to get some info out of Grandpa on Saturday, but he just didn't feel up to it and wasn't remembering everything. I really realized that I know very little about my great aunts and uncles and their families. I think I'm going to have to actually write to a few relatives and see if I can get some info.

Saw Ocean's 11 last weekend. If you like Vegas, you'll think this is a cool movie. Most of it takes place at the Bellagio, which my brother had already given me the scoop that it is wicked cool. At the end of the movie they show the fountains doing their dance to the music. What an amazing place. I really really really want to go there!